Patrick Delaforce served with 11th Armoured Division during the advance through NW Europe.

After a career in the wine trade he became a professional writer. Among his books in print with Pen and Sword are Churchill’s Desert Rats in North Africa, Burma, Sicily and Italy, Wellington Le Beau and Monty’s Marauders.

In 2015 he was appointed to the rank of Chavalier in the Ordre National de la Legion d’honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour). This is in recognition of his ‘acknowledged military engagement and steadfast involvement in the Liberation of France during the Second World War’.